NT's Tony Mitchell Declaring For NBA Draft

Hoops Standout, Tony Mitchell, Bound For NBA Draft

DENTON, Texas – North Texas forward Tony Mitchell has announced he will forgo his final two years of collegiate eligibility in order to declare for the 2013 NBA Draft. This year’s draft is being held on June 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“This is such a blessing,” Mitchell said. “I just want to thank coach Tony Benford and the staff at North Texas, all of my teammates, the administration, my family, my AAU and high school coaches, and all of the Mean Green fans. These two years at North Texas helped me mature as a person both on and off the court. I thank God for the opportunities he has given me here.”

A consensus national top-25 recruit coming out of Dallas’s Pinkston High School, Mitchell earned numerous All-Sun Belt honors while rewriting the Mean Green shot blocking records with 87 in 2012-13 and 157 for his career. Mitchell posted multi-block games in 28 of 32 games this season, and ranks third in the NCAA in career blocks per game among all active players with at least 50 games played.

Mitchell finished his career ranked 10th in the nation among all active players with a career rebounding average of 9.2 per game, and scored 13.7 points on 49.0 percent shooting for his career.

“I feel very fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to coach Tony Mitchell this year,” said North Texas head coach Tony Benford. “I appreciate Tony and his mother, Angie, in trusting in us as a staff when we arrived, and giving us the opportunity to work together. Tony committed himself to growing as a player and a human being this year, and it shows. Tony has proved to me that he’s going to be a tremendous player at the next level, and a terrific ambassador for the University of North Texas and our basketball program for years to come.”

After a standout freshman campaign in which he led the Sun Belt in scoring (15.9 PPG), rebounding (11.8 RPG), 3-point percentage (47.1) and blocks (3.1 BPG), Mitchell was named the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, as well as First-Team All-Sun Belt and All-Sun Belt Tournament team. Those accolades led to numerous Preseason All-America nods from across the country.

Mitchell was the leading rebounder and shot blocker for the U19 USA Basketball team at the 2011 FIBA World Championships prior to playing for the Mean Green. He was also a standout at the LeBron James and Amar’e Stoudemire skills academies in the summer of 2012.

The last North Texas player taken in the NBA Draft was John Horrocks, who was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth round in 1984. In all, 15 Mean Green players have been drafted in the history of the program.